Nurse who downed mouthwash and vodka on New Year's Day shift was so drunk she had to be taken away in ambulance

Vodka and mouthwash found in her car, which she had slipped out to for regular "shots" during working day at North Wales care home

A drunk nurse was taken away in an ambulance after downing vodka and mouthwash during a 12-hour New Year’s Day shift at a care home in North Wales.

Christine Elizabeth Marie Gammack said she was so intoxicated she could only remember paramedics arriving towards the end of the day at Bryn Marl Nursing Home in Conwy on January 1 last year.

The home's owner had made an emergency call after staff said Gammack repeatedly slipped out to her car during the day, where a bottle of mouthwash and a one litre bottle of vodka were later found.

John Howdon told a disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Cardiff how he arrived on site to find Gammack looked intoxicated, drowsy, unsteady on her feet and slurring her speech with a glazed look in her eyes.

He said after turning up an hour late for an 8am start Gammack had parked her car in the home's only ambulance bay, before disappearing for short periods of time throughout the day.

Mr Haydon said he had to move the vehicle after an ambulance destroyed a drainpipe when trying to access the building, having been forced to use a different route because of where her car was parked.

He then found a half empty bottle of mouthwash on the floor, which he said encouraged him to look in the glovebox, where he found a one litre bottle of vodka which was three quarters empty.

He added: “There was no other medical explanation for the way she was that day, other than that she was drunk.”

When asked if she needed to go to hospital, Mr Howden said: “She kept saying ’Admit me, admit me. Help me, help me.’”

She had earlier convictions for for common assault and drink driving, of which she had not informed the NMC.

Gammack did not attend the hearing, but admitted being drunk at work, sleeping in a patient's bed and leaving the home without permission.

She was also found to have put pressure on a patient's stoma — an open wound from which urine and faeces is excreted into a colostomy bag — and told him he should accept the wound as it was “part of him” during the shift.

The patient, who has learning difficulties, was said to be visibly distressed afterwards.

She also denied drinking at work on January 1, but the investigating panel heard how she had admitted doing so at a disciplinary hearing on January 8, when she was dismissed immediately by Mr Haydon.

He said during this hearing she had admitted to drinking during the shift, and that she had been out to visit supermarkets several times when she was working that day.

Gammack had worked at the home on a temporary basis from December 2012 while she awaited a permanent move to another of Mr Haydon's other two homes.

Claire Parry, presenting the case against Gammack for the NMC, said after she was sacked from the home Mr Haydon was contacted by Denbigh police, who had Gammack in a police station after she was found driving her partner's car, which had been reported missing.

She said officers had been trying to track down Gammack's own car, which was why they contacted her old employer.

The NMC panel ruled against her on all counts, and was then told how Gammack had previous convictions for drink-driving and common assault, of which she had not informed the NMC.

Rulings on whether her fitness to practise is impaired and any further sanctions against her were due tomorrow.

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